This seems to be very popular lately. I nearly chose a template that included a vectored person in the design. Anyway, let’s get started on how you can make a photo look like it’s a graphic image.
First you start with a photo. This can be of anything you want, but for this tutorial I’ll use a woman. (By the way, this is a stock image I borrowed and I’m not sure who to credit)
Next import the image into Illustrator or Freehand or other vector program. I wont bother doing separate tutorials for both cause they are more or less the same.
Once imported, it’s best if you make a new layer so that you can lock the image in place and not accidentally move it while you’re tracing it. (New Layer – WINDOW – SHOW LAYERS – click the arrow/triangle on the upper right hand corner of the new window – NEW LAYER. Now make sure you do your tracing on the new layer or all that was useless. The little circle to the right of the layers name ((Layer 1)) shows you which layer you are on)
Now, here is where is starts to get a little annoying and very tricky. You need to use either the PEN tool or the PENCIL tool and start tracing out each section of the image that you want to be a different colour. To make it look right, you’ll have to overlap layers. However, this can get difficult the more layers you have, as some layers may have to be above one layer and below others. How do you make this easier? Start with the biggest part of the image, this will probably go on the bottom layer and work your way up.
To use your PEN tool to trace an image, choose a starting point and click, there will be an anchor there. Next, follow the outer line of the image and anywhere there is a bend, you will need to click and make another anchor. One thing I have come to notice that in Freehand, it is easy to go back and pull and move and adjust each anchor, but with Illustrator, this just isn’t as easy. So, to save yourself a lot of grief, each time you are making an anchor, hold down the mouse button for a second and pull, this will create little sub anchors (I’m sure they have another name, but I can’t think of it right now) that you can use to make the line rounded.
As I do each section, I make sure that it’s filled in so I can find it again, but I put the transparency down to 40% so that it doesn’t cover the image allowing me to be able to see where I may need to do more tracing.
Once I have the entire image traced, I add colour to each section I’ve done. Once I have the main colour filled in, I can add blobs of shading to make it look a bit better.
With more practice and a lot of patience, you can come up with some interesting looking graphic images.
maritimexpat Said:
on July 9, 2008 at 1:19 am
Man, I’ve always wanted to know how to vectorize in the fancy programs… I was hoping it would be a bit easier
Then again, it’s still easier than using MS Paint, and I’ve done more than a few that way.
archedtype Said:
on July 9, 2008 at 11:15 am
I’m sure you could do this in Photoshop with the Magic Wand Tool and a paintbrush, but I have no patience with that program and find just blocking out each section in a vector program.